Natasha with a rescued hedgehog

Natasha Winn runs Hedgely Hogspital, a small hedgehog hospital and rescue centre in Abercych, which is self-funded. She came to talk to us about the hedgehogs in our gardens.

She pointed out that as they're nocturnal animals, we might not even know they are there, and that most are going about their business happily but  they do get into trouble and it's sensible to know the signs that they may need rescuing.

It was interesting to hear what hedgehogs eat. They are generalists and feed on a wide range of things. The majority of their diet is made up of invertebrates (or creepy crawlies). We know what they eat from scientific studies that have analysed hedgehog poo or looked in the stomachs of hedgehogs killed on roads. The most important invertebrates in their diet are worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes.

She explained how the west European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is Britain’s only spiny mammal. Their highly specialised coat contains around 6,000 creamy-brown spines, concealing greyish fur on their underside, long legs and a short tail. She talked about hibernation, mating, and how the females give birth in June and July, bring up their babies, which are called hoglets. The average litter size of four or five young. However, they usually only wean two or three successfully. The mother is liable to desert or even eat hoglets if she is disturbed. Sometimes she will carry them in her mouth to a new location. Jane Cain told us how she'd witnessed this remarkable scene in her garden once (and luckily rushed for her camera – pictures on the right of the page), when a mother hedgehog helped her baby up the garden steps. She said she was so fortunate to see this, as she never realised they picked up their youngsters like a cat does with her kittens.  

Females are capable of having a second litter in late September or October, but hoglets from the second litter need to put on weight very quickly to prepare for hibernation, and are often unable to put on enough weight to survive the period. These late litters can lead to ‘autumn orphans’ still foraging around well into winter sometimes in the day time and often looking underweight. They're less likely to survive the winter, so babies late in the season probably need rescuing. 

 Here is the Hedgely's list of things you can do (and avoid) to help keep healthy hedgehogs happy  in your garden;

Create a wild area

Piles of logs and leafs encourage insects and invertebrates that hedgehogs eat.  They also provide a secure site for breeding and hibernating.  The bigger the area the better.

Create a wildflower patch

Plant a diverse semi-natural wildflower patch, using native seed mixes where possible, to suit your soil type.  Go for mixes without grass seed and add no fertilizers.  Growing wild flowers will encourage biodiversity and attract a valuable hedgehog food source to your garden.

Make a hedgehog artificial home

This can be as simple as putting a board against a wall or purchasing a purpose-built one.

Feeding hedgehogs

Providing fresh food and water will encourage hedgehogs to your garden.  Tinned dog or cat food (not gravy or fish varieties), cat biscuits and chopped egg are advisable.  You can buy specialist hedgehog food from specialist suppliers (garden centres or online).  Cows milk isn’t advisable as it upsets hedgehogs’ stomachs.

Open air compost heaps

Compost heaps make an attractive nesting site for hedgehogs and are a  good food source, due to the creepy crawlies that live in them.  Be careful when turning your heap with a garden fork.

Ponds

Hedgehogs will benefit from having an all year round water supply and thrive on the insects and amphibians that ponds attract.  Hedgehogs are excellent swimmers. Ensure that ponds have sloping edges to make it easy for hedgehogs to climb out. Stones or chicken wire can also be used to assist hedgehogs with easy exit.  If a pond has steep sides and no adaptations are able to be made it will be a hazard to many animals, so will need to be covered or fenced off to ensure that animals don’t get trapped in it and drown.

DIY hedgehog highways

https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/link-your-garden/

One of the reasons why hedgehogs are declining in Britain is because our garden fences and walls are becoming more secure thereby reducing the amount of land available to them.  Making a 13cm by 13cm hole in your garden fence or wall is sufficient to allow a hedgehog to pass through, but will be too small for most pets to pass through.

You can register your hole on the “BIG HEDGEHOG MAP” and snazzy hedgehog street signs are available to purchase from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society Shop for £3.00 which you can put above your hedgehog hole.

 See website www.hedgehogstreet.org

 Use natural alternatives to slug pellets

 Slug pellets are hazardous to hedgehogs and they have been found dead with high levels of slug pellets active ingredients in their system.  Slug pellets may not always kill hedgehogs but may effect their reproductive ability and have a negative effect on their population.Some alternatives to slug pellets are:

• encouraging amphibians to your garden via a pond (as they will eat slugs and snails)
• hand pick slugs and snails from your garden
• use dried seaweed in large quantities around plants
• water your garden in the morning rather than the evening, as slugs thrive in the damp.

 Garden Hazards

Strimmers:  Check through long grass before starting to strim an overgrown area.

Swimming pools and ponds: Ensure that they are securely covered, or have an exit ramp or sloping sides or stones so hedgehogs can climb out. Check ponds and swimming pools daily.

Bonfires:  Check wood or brash piles for nesting hedgehogs before burning.

Netting:  Hedgehogs can easily get caught up in netting.  Nets act like a snare and can cause severe injuries and death.  Make sure all unused netting is lifted off the ground and pea netting is high enough for hedgehogs to pass under.

Chemicals:  Slug pellets, herbicides, wood preservers, bleach and disinfectants are examples of chemical hazards for hedgehogs.  Choose environmentally friendly wood preservers.  Be mindful of the effects that chemicals can have on wildlife in your garden and seek natural and environmentally friendly products as an alternative.

Herbicides can decrease earthworm and invertebrate populations, which in turn can diminish hedgehogs’ food supply.

Natasha  explained that she is now taking in over 100 wild hedgehogs each year in Ceredigion, south west Wales, caring for them until they are well enough to go back to the wild...their release rate is approximately 90%.

She asked us that if we find a hedgehog and we're concerned about it, to phone her onn 01239 682 324 or 07792 676 112 and leave a message. In an emergency, keep trying. She reminded us to always wear thick gardening gloves or using a thick towel, pick it up by holding it in both hands around the middle, scooping it up. Put it into a cardboard box lined with newspaper and give a small towel or tea towel for it to hide under.

Here is her check list of how to know if the hedgehogs in our garden are happy or in distress;

WHEN TO RESCUE A HEDGEHOG: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE
Daytime
Rescue a hedgehog if it’s out during the day. Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals. They only come out during the day if there’s a problem.

Out of nest
Hedgehogs sleep and hibernate in specially built nests. If you find one lying in the middle of a garden or path, assume it is ill and call us.

Alone
Baby and juvenile hedgehogs live in family groups in nests. Tiny babies will only leave a nest if there is a problem. Young hedgehogs will make a very shrill loud, call if in distress.

If you find one, please do not try to look after it yourself as babies die very quickly and need specialist feeds. If transport is an issue, please keep the baby warm and contact us for advice until arrangements are made to collect it or meet you.

"Apparent" injured orphan
Any young hedgehog that has an injury, or is out during the day, should be be checked over.
Under NO circumstances try to feed them milk.

Hit by a car
Traffic casualty can suffer a variety of injuries. They must have medical assistance immediately.

Other wounds
A hedgehog with open wounds can become infected or fly blown and will not heal without assistance. Urgent attention is required as the animal will be suffering from shock.
If a hedgehog is caught in netting, contact us or another hedgehog rescue. Any hedgehog that's been caught in netting will need to be monitored in case of further complications.

Hibernation
If a hedgehog is under 600 grams any time between late October and early May. They would not have laid enough brown fat to survive a whole winter.

Appears dead
Please do not bury a hedgehog until you are 100% sure it is dead, and not sick or hibernating. We can help you be accurate.

Become a hedgehog champion and educate your local community about hedgehogs and their conservation and preservation.
The Hogspital's good works are self-funded and donations, however small, are always much appreciated.

1. Natasha is always grateful for donations of food, medical supplies and bedding, etc. You can browse our Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/3VF0CZJY2392

2. Send money through PayPal to hedgely.hogspital@yahoo.co.uk. You can also donate directly to the Hedgely Hogspital account at Lloyds, 30 71 89, account number 28105368

3. Donate directly to Priory Vets in Cardigan, which help with the rescued hedgehogs, on 01239 612 479 or in person. Knowing that there are funds available to pay for vital tests - often in an emergency - is a great help.

With thanks from Hedgely Hospital and the recovering hedgehogs.

 Clickk here for Their Facebook Page

Rhydlewis Gardening Club Autumn Produce Show

As we move towards autumnal weather, the sun shone for the 2019 Rhydlewis Gardening Club Autumn Produce Show.  

This was enjoyed a very well supported show, 

with all the categories full of great flowers, produce, 

home-baking and craft items. 

“Yet again this year, we had a lot of new members showing for the first time, and the village hall was packed with members, families and the local community.  Our club is growing, with more keen gardeners joining each year,” commented Liz Blackler, chair of the club.  

Despite the testing spring and summer weather conditions there were still a lot of entries across all categories, including squashes, cape gooseberries, and home-grown lemons. A range of crafts and home cooking also graced the tables. 

Carrie Davies, winner of the Best Onions Shield

 The prize winners were; Vegetable Challenge Cup – Janette Sharman; Floral Challenge Cup – Janette Sharman and Sara Redman; Homecraft Shield – Sara O’Conner; Best Onions Shield – Carrie Davies and Best Exhibit in Vegetables and Fruit – Janette Sharman. 

Rhydlewis Gardening Club meets at 7.30pm, on the last Tuesday of each month in the village hall, and has a varied and interesting programme.  Club membership is only £10 per year, non-members £2 per meeting – all welcome. Contact the secretary on ninahare00@googlemai.com or tel 01239 851096 FFD

 

The next meeting is 'Hedgehogs in your Garden'
given by Natasha Winn from Hedgely's Hospital for Hedgehogs; 7.30 as usual at the village hall on September 24th. See you there!

Rhydlewis Gardening Club meets at 7.30pm, on the last Tuesday of each month in the village hall, and has a varied and interesting programme.  Club membership is only £10 per year, non-members £2 per meeting – all welcome. Contact the secretary on ninahare00@googlemai.com or tel 01239 851096 FFD

AUTUMN PRODUCE SHOW SCHEDULE 2019

SHOW SCHEDULE 2019 RHYDLEWIS GARDENING CLUB 

RHYDLEWIS AND DISTRICT GARDENING CLUB

AUTUMN PRODUCE SHOW

TUESDAY 27th AUGUST 2019

RHYDLEWIS VILLAGE HALL

(Please note new timings)

3.00pm – 5.00pm – Staging exhibits

7.00pm – Show opens for viewing and refreshments

7.45pm Prize Giving followed by Raffle

8.15pm - ‘Make an offer’ sale table of donated exhibits

8.45pm – Help to clear tables

For further information please contact the club secretaries 

Nina and Jim 01239 851096; or show secretary Liz 01239 851851

Please see website for schedule copies and showing guidelines – http://rhydlewisgardeningclub.blogspot.co.uk/

 VEGETABLES AND FRUITS

1. 4 Potatoes (White or Coloured)
2. 3 Carrots – (any one variety)
3. 3 Beetroot – (any one variety)
4. 3 Courgettes – (any one variety) each not exceeding 15.2cm (6ins)
5. 1 Marrow
6. 1 Squash
7. 1 Pumpkin
8. 4 French Beans
9. 4 Runner Beans
10. 10.4 Pods of Peas
11. 11.3 Cooking Onions
12. 12.5 Shallots
13. 13.4 Tomatoes
14. 14.5 Cherry Tomatoes
15. 15.1 Cucumber
16. 16.Collection of Vegetables – 5 varieties (tomatoes can be included)
17. 17.Oddly Shaped Vegetables
18. 18.Longest Runner Bean
19. 19.Collection of Culinary Herbs: Names to be listed
20. 20.Parsley – 4 cut stems in a vase
21. 21.3 Cooking Apples (any one variety)
22. 22.3 Eating Apples - (any one variety)
23. 23.3 Pears - (any one variety)
24. 24.3 Rhubarb sticks – to include approx. 7.5 cm (3ins) of leaf
25. 25.Any other Vegetable not listed in the schedule
26. 26.Any other Fruit not listed in the schedule

FLOWERS

27. 27.Vase of Dahlias – 3 heads of any one variety
28. 28.Vase of Hydrangeas – 3 heads of any one variety
29. 29.Vase of Roses – 3 stems of any one variety
30. 30.Vase of Sweet Peas – 5 stems of any one variety
31. 31.Vase of Cut Flowers – not more than 6 varieties
32. 32.Tree or Shrub – 1 cut stem for autumn flower, fruit or foliage effect

FLORAL ART

33. 33.A basket flower arrangement for Harvest Supper – not to exceed 24ins (60cm) overall
34. 34.A seasonal arrangement incorporating a teapot. Size optional.  

(Categories 33 & 34 can include non-plant accessories, fruit, vegetables and purchased plant items)

HOMECRAFT

35. 35.A Cottage Loaf
36. 36.4 Pork Sausage Rolls – (homemade short crust pastry)
37. 37.1 Quiche – Maximum 12 inches
38. 38.A Date & Walnut Cake
39. 39.5 Chocolate Brownies
40. 40.3 Brown Hens’ Eggs
41. 41.3 White Hens’ Eggs
42. 42.3 Ducks’ Eggs
43. 43.Jar of Jam – Stone fruit
44. 44.Jar of Jam – Soft fruit
45. 45.Jar of Jelly
46. 46.Jar of Chutney
47. 47.Jar of Pickles
48. 48.1 Bottle of Homemade Cordial

ART &CRAFT

49. 49.A Hand Knitted item
50. 50.An Upcycled Plastic Bottle
51. 51.A Handmade Reusable Shopping Bag
52. 52.A Piece of Origami
53. 53.Any Handmade art or craft on the theme of ‘Sunflowers’ (Any medium)
54. 54.“What a Pest!” - A photograph not exceeding 12 x 18 inches (30 x 46cms) – can be framed, mounted or unmounted

OPEN TO ALL EXHIBITORS

Entry Fees

Members of Rhydlewis Gardening Club & Children under 12 – Free

Non- Members of Rhydlewis Gardening Club – £1 flat fee regardless of how many entries

RULES

• Entries in the flower, fruit and vegetable classes, unless otherwise stated should consist of one variety
• All floral arrangements to consist of fresh or dried plant material unless otherwise stated
• All exhibits must have been grown by the exhibitor (not applicable to the floral art)
• For the purposes of the show, “vase” means any suitable container for displaying cut flowers and “pot” means any suitable containing in which a plant can grow
• Rhydlewis Gardening Club cannot be responsible for anything left in the hall after the Show. If necessary, label vases and containers.
• ANY OBJECTION TO AN EXHIBIT MUST BE MADE TO THE SHOW SECRETARY ON THE NIGHT OF THE SHOW
• In the event of a dispute the committee reserves the right to inspect garden.

JUDGES

Rannveig Wallis – Vegetables, Fruit and Flowers

Elonwy James – Homecraft

Sonia Wells & Jan French – Art and Craft

AWARDS

• Vegetable Challenge Cup - Awarded for the most points gained in the Vegetable and Fruit classes (1 - 26)
• Floral Challenge Cup - Awarded for the most points gained in the Flowers and Floral Art classes (27 – 34)
• D & G Williams Shield – Awarded for the most points gained in the Homecraft and Art & Craft classes (35 – 54)
• Roses Shield – Overall winner of Class 29
• J.T. Davies Memorial Shield – Best exhibit in Class 11
• Best Exhibit – Vegetable and Fruit Classes (1 - 26)

Summer Garden Visit 2019

For our garden visit this year, we went to Llanllyr in  Talsan, near Lampeter (SA48 8QB).  The house has a four-acre landscaped garden, which, although begun in 1830, was mostly restored and redeveloped in the 1980's and up to the present day, by Mrs Loveday Gee, who lives there with her family and husband, Robert Gee. 

It was a rainy day, with some heavy downpours that promised to go on until sunset, so we all took brollies and wellies, but as we arrived, at 5pm, the rain petered out and held off until we'd finished viewing. 

Perhaps the old nuns had taken pity on us and prayed for good weather, as around 1180 Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd established a Cistercian nunnery on this site. Mrs Gee, who took us around the gardens, explained both the planting she's done in the last 40 years, and the history of the house.

 By the way, Mrs Gee has written a very interesting book about Llanllyr, called A Very Small Corner of Paradise. The Gardening Club has purchased a copy, and it will be on loan to anyone who'd like to read it. Just let the Secretary (Nina) know.

The house and gardens was the subject of a major University of Wales Trinity Saint David research project. Archaeologists'  discoveries so far have led to important clues about how the nuns lived. They recovered fragments of sumptuous glazed floor tiles indicating that the nunnery was lavishly built and decorated.  It's possible the nuns first lived at Strata Florida - the ruins of which lie near Tregaron – a former Cistercian monastery which was of immense importance to Wales during the Middle Ages. The nuns then settled permanently at LLanlyr, where they farmed cattle, sheep and vegetables, tended an orchard and a stocked  fishpond and had their own grain mill, using the stream that now runs into the pond.

It's still not known who began the nunnery, but "llan" always means 'holy place' in some way and "Llyr' can be both a male and female name. The nunnery survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII and the monastic estate passed to the Lloyd family.  It was  Morgan Lloyd, High Sheriff of Powys 4 who converted the nunnery into a dwelling in the 17th century. Sometime in the 18th century, the house gained a formal garden to the east, probably under the Lewes family, who purchased the property in 1720 and still own it today. In 1826 the Lloyd's house was rebuilt in fashionable Regency style, using stone from the old house. At the same time as the new house was erected a formal garden was laid out. 

In the late 1980s the garden was cleared and replanted by Mrs Gee, with a long, double flower border, a large shrub rose garden, a huge fishpond, bog garden, and the Italianate water garden, laid out along the line of a medieval culvert. There's a lovely shrubbery, with winding trail. The garden is full of unusual trees and shrubs, with an emphasis on plants requiring little maintenance. Featured plants include hardy geraniums, cyclamen, primulas, and hellebore, planted in a style best described as romantic.

 Outside the rose garden is a carved Celtic stone (see pictures at top of page), commemorating the gift of a plot of land to an Irish follower of St David around the year AD 600.  Llanllyr was named one of the finest large gardens in Wales in a 2004 poll organised by the television channel S4C. They celebrated this by creating a paved area, using an ancient Christian design seen in early churches. 

Rabbits not Welcome here

The trees have had some squirrel damage (rabbits are a problem too) as you can see from these pictures, and Mrs Gee has begun netting vulnerable plants. The choice of plants makes a stunningly beautiful landscape, but there's some little quirks to raise a smile, as well. 

Llanllyr has its own underground lake which supplies spring water for the family-run business, 'Source' - a bottling plant drawing award-winning pure spring water from the sustainably-managed land. (check out their facebook page).

Afterwards, we ate at the Vale Of Aeron Inn just outside Felinfach on the A482 (SA48 8AE), where we had a good chin-wag and enjoyed an evening meal.